rockfowl
Mark Andrews
Yes, often together. Either end of the sandflats, ie around the Pigeon's Nest park bend but especially your end, toward Quinhuangdao as the tide drops, they are often close in.
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China observations (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Gretchen
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Yes, often together. Either end of the sandflats, ie around the Pigeon's Nest park bend but especially your end, toward Quinhuangdao as the tide drops, they are often close in.
Terry Townshend
Regular vagrant
Of interest to any Beijing-based birders, a first-winter Glaucous Gull was found on the lake at Yeyahu Nature Reserve, near Yanqing, Beijing Municipality last weekend by Jan-Erik Nilsen. It was still there on Friday 18 November. It is the first record for Beijing and is the second new gull species for the municipality this year, following a Little Gull at the same site in September. Some record images now on my blog at www.birdingbeijing.com.
T
T
Hi everybody! I'm a new birder in China, here in Shanghai for the next 10 months on a US fulbright grant, so I'm a bit of a punk kid compared to you vets---super excited to learn from everyone else.
Last week at Fudan's Jiangwan (江湾) campus, I saw the following:
Mallards
Little grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 小PT
Lesser egret Egretta garzetta 小白鹭
Common moorhen Gallinula chloropus 黑水鸡
Eurasian coot Fulica atra 白骨顶
Hoopoe Upopa epops 戴胜
Long-tailed shrike Lanius schach 棕尾伯劳
Daurian redstart Phoenicurus auroreus 背红尾鸲
Red-billed starling Sturnus sericeus 丝光椋鸟 (saw a juvenile at that)
Black-collared starling Sturnus nigricollis 黑领椋鸟
Crested myna Acridotheres cristatellus 八哥
Green-backed tit Parus monticolus 绿背山雀
Light-vented bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis 白头鹎
Vinous-throated parrotbill Paradoxornis webbianus webbianus 棕头鸦雀
Eurasian tree sparrow Passer montanus 树麻雀
White wagtail Motacilla alba personata 白鶺鸰
Oriental tree pipit/Olive-backed pipit Anthus hodgsoni 树鹨
Pallas’ reed bunting Emberiza pallasi 苇鹀
Apparently the green-backed tit is a new record for Shanghai (though I wasn't the first to see it), according to an old, wizened Fudan professor who'd been patiently staking out the area for the last forever. My ecology professors would slap me upside the head if I didn't mention this, so I'll also say that I guesstimate that the temperature was around 20-22C, no wind, with low fog/smog and decently high humidity (though I'm from southern california so all of the weather in Shanghai so far feels like "decently high" to "I'm drowning" humidity).
Also the week before---first week of November, I headed out to Chongming Dongtan, and saw these birdy birds:
Spot-billed duck Anas poecilorhyncha
Mallard Notgonnabother
Great crested grebe Podiceps cristatus
Great cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo
Chinese pond heron Ardeola bacchus (I think. My field assistant thought it was a bittern, but those are much rarer and more cryptic.)
Little egret Egretta garzetta (May have also seen an intermediate egret, which would be a lifer, but I’m uncertain about that)
Little grebe Tachybraptus ruficollis
Common moorhen Gallinula chloropus
Eurasian coot Fulica atra
Black-winged stilt Himantopus himantopus (I’m actually fairly certain that I saw this last year, but I don’t have it on record so I’ll count it here.)
Oriental turtledove Streptopelia orientalis
Common kingfisher Alcedo atthis
Common hoopoe Upupa epops
Reed parrotbill Paradoxornis heudei
Oriental reed-warbler Acrocephalus orientalis
White/pied wagtail (I always forget which one it’s called where) Motacilla alba
Grey wagtail Motacilla cinerea (I hadn’t even seen a yellow wagtail last year until I went to France, so I didn’t realize that grey wagtails are also yellow (smh) but distinguished by their pinkish (in Chinese, 肉色—“meat colored”, and meat specifically refers to pork. Pork is the de facto standard meat in China) legs
Crested mynah Acridotheres cristatellus
Daurian redstart Phoenicurus auroreus
Long-tailed shrike Lanius schach
Light-vented bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis
Eurasian tree sparrow Passer montanus
Pallas’ reed bunting Emberiza pallasi
I've got the Field guide to the birds of China, 上海常见鸟类图鉴，上海水鸟, and the Collins bird guide (UK/Europe) guides but I find that they either don't include or are complete and absolute rubbish at East asian pipits and reed buntings in particular. If anyone wants to go birding around Shanghai/江浙 provinces, feel free to holla at a sister! And any recommendations for these groups in particular would be great. Sorry if it's been repeated somewhere else--my internet has all the speed of a high flobberworm.
Last week at Fudan's Jiangwan (江湾) campus, I saw the following:
Mallards
Little grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 小PT
Lesser egret Egretta garzetta 小白鹭
Common moorhen Gallinula chloropus 黑水鸡
Eurasian coot Fulica atra 白骨顶
Hoopoe Upopa epops 戴胜
Long-tailed shrike Lanius schach 棕尾伯劳
Daurian redstart Phoenicurus auroreus 背红尾鸲
Red-billed starling Sturnus sericeus 丝光椋鸟 (saw a juvenile at that)
Black-collared starling Sturnus nigricollis 黑领椋鸟
Crested myna Acridotheres cristatellus 八哥
Green-backed tit Parus monticolus 绿背山雀
Light-vented bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis 白头鹎
Vinous-throated parrotbill Paradoxornis webbianus webbianus 棕头鸦雀
Eurasian tree sparrow Passer montanus 树麻雀
White wagtail Motacilla alba personata 白鶺鸰
Oriental tree pipit/Olive-backed pipit Anthus hodgsoni 树鹨
Pallas’ reed bunting Emberiza pallasi 苇鹀
Apparently the green-backed tit is a new record for Shanghai (though I wasn't the first to see it), according to an old, wizened Fudan professor who'd been patiently staking out the area for the last forever. My ecology professors would slap me upside the head if I didn't mention this, so I'll also say that I guesstimate that the temperature was around 20-22C, no wind, with low fog/smog and decently high humidity (though I'm from southern california so all of the weather in Shanghai so far feels like "decently high" to "I'm drowning" humidity).
Also the week before---first week of November, I headed out to Chongming Dongtan, and saw these birdy birds:
Spot-billed duck Anas poecilorhyncha
Mallard Notgonnabother
Great crested grebe Podiceps cristatus
Great cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo
Chinese pond heron Ardeola bacchus (I think. My field assistant thought it was a bittern, but those are much rarer and more cryptic.)
Little egret Egretta garzetta (May have also seen an intermediate egret, which would be a lifer, but I’m uncertain about that)
Little grebe Tachybraptus ruficollis
Common moorhen Gallinula chloropus
Eurasian coot Fulica atra
Black-winged stilt Himantopus himantopus (I’m actually fairly certain that I saw this last year, but I don’t have it on record so I’ll count it here.)
Oriental turtledove Streptopelia orientalis
Common kingfisher Alcedo atthis
Common hoopoe Upupa epops
Reed parrotbill Paradoxornis heudei
Oriental reed-warbler Acrocephalus orientalis
White/pied wagtail (I always forget which one it’s called where) Motacilla alba
Grey wagtail Motacilla cinerea (I hadn’t even seen a yellow wagtail last year until I went to France, so I didn’t realize that grey wagtails are also yellow (smh) but distinguished by their pinkish (in Chinese, 肉色—“meat colored”, and meat specifically refers to pork. Pork is the de facto standard meat in China) legs
Crested mynah Acridotheres cristatellus
Daurian redstart Phoenicurus auroreus
Long-tailed shrike Lanius schach
Light-vented bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis
Eurasian tree sparrow Passer montanus
Pallas’ reed bunting Emberiza pallasi
I've got the Field guide to the birds of China, 上海常见鸟类图鉴，上海水鸟, and the Collins bird guide (UK/Europe) guides but I find that they either don't include or are complete and absolute rubbish at East asian pipits and reed buntings in particular. If anyone wants to go birding around Shanghai/江浙 provinces, feel free to holla at a sister! And any recommendations for these groups in particular would be great. Sorry if it's been repeated somewhere else--my internet has all the speed of a high flobberworm.
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Welcome to China CHChang!
Suggest you get a copy of Mark Brazil's Birds of East Asia, which is certainly the best book for E China.
Reed Parrotbill is a monster bird! - just relatively easy around Shanghai- only ones I've seen were at Dongtan.
Cheers
Mike
Green-backed Tit is a good record for Shanghai
Suggest you get a copy of Mark Brazil's Birds of East Asia, which is certainly the best book for E China.
Reed Parrotbill is a monster bird! - just relatively easy around Shanghai- only ones I've seen were at Dongtan.
Cheers
Mike
Green-backed Tit is a good record for Shanghai
Welcome ChChang! Glad to have another person joining in here. Being a "vet" is all relative, and as I'm certainly not one in terms of birds, I can warmly attest that all comers and all info/questions/observations are welcome!
If you aren't familiar with the Oriental Bird Club's website of images (check here), you may find that another helpful resource to supplement guides, though I know that slow internet restricts my use a bit. Never heard of a flobberworm, but guessing that if it describes my internet's speed these days, it is very slow moving
(Sometimes the speed happily picks up in the new year or the new term... we'll see...)
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thirudevaram
Trapped in mist ***s
Cranes at ChongMing Dao
Spent the weekend at ChongMing Dao. My first time sighting of cranes. Have heard about the cranes before that they are very shy birds but just realized how shy they were. Damn, they are Kilometres away even at high tide.
Highlights:
Common crane
Hooded Crane
Black faced spoonbiil(2)
Mallard
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
Northern Pintail
Northern shoveler
Great Cormorant
Eastern Marsh Harrier
Peregrine Falcon
Rustic Bunting
Spent the weekend at ChongMing Dao. My first time sighting of cranes. Have heard about the cranes before that they are very shy birds but just realized how shy they were. Damn, they are Kilometres away even at high tide.
Highlights:
Common crane
Hooded Crane
Black faced spoonbiil(2)
Mallard
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
Northern Pintail
Northern shoveler
Great Cormorant
Eastern Marsh Harrier
Peregrine Falcon
Rustic Bunting
mcaribou
Migration coming
The strong cold front brought more winter birds to Shanghai.
Last weekend I visited North Lake in Chongming Island and saw 20 Common Starling-my largest count in Shanghai,and 10 Red-breasted Merganser-my largest count in Shanghai again.
In the photo u can see Common Starling&Northern Lapwing being flushed by Kestrel,and a Long-tailed Shrike watching them.
Last weekend I visited North Lake in Chongming Island and saw 20 Common Starling-my largest count in Shanghai,and 10 Red-breasted Merganser-my largest count in Shanghai again.
In the photo u can see Common Starling&Northern Lapwing being flushed by Kestrel,and a Long-tailed Shrike watching them.
Attachments
thirudevaram
Trapped in mist ***s
Hey Jocko! I recently was just at Chongming Dao, and saw 70 hooded cranes, 1 sandhill (apparently the poor fellow spends winter there all by his lonecranesome), and 30-odd gray cranes. They're generally out on the farmland fields to the south (i.e. right) of the "Big Stone" at the entrance (with that nice posh bit of wooden walkway)--about a 20 minute ride out on an electric scooter or a short-ish drive (though I think that now only the Dongtan Guanli managers can drive around there). I can pass along your email to one of the managers I met, if that's cool with you!
How odd!!!
"Keep your eyes open" - good advice, even when you're just trying to get from the classroom back home on a day when you're fighting off a cold. Couldn't believe what I saw:
an Asian Verditer Flycatcher!
Definitely all blue with black edges to the wings, black around the eyes and a fly-catcher beak. It was turquoise tinted - making it a female? It was near a classroom building and flew around some, but looked a bit quiet. I guess it would be an escapee? It couldn't have gotten here on its own, could it have? It might have been trying to enter a window at one point, but I don't think it would have come from that particular building. I don't guess that a flycatcher would really make it through the winter here, would it?
What a surprise!
"Keep your eyes open" - good advice, even when you're just trying to get from the classroom back home on a day when you're fighting off a cold. Couldn't believe what I saw:
an Asian Verditer Flycatcher!
Definitely all blue with black edges to the wings, black around the eyes and a fly-catcher beak. It was turquoise tinted - making it a female? It was near a classroom building and flew around some, but looked a bit quiet. I guess it would be an escapee? It couldn't have gotten here on its own, could it have? It might have been trying to enter a window at one point, but I don't think it would have come from that particular building. I don't guess that a flycatcher would really make it through the winter here, would it?
What a surprise!
mcaribou
Migration coming
I saw a Mongolian Gull with white wing tag AD99 in Yancheng on 14 Dec.
and reply from who banded it
It is - so far - the gull with the longest documented flight.
This gull was ringed at Khar Us Nuur National Park in Khovd Aimag = Khovd Province on 26. June 2006 as an adult male (older than 5 years) and was given the Helgoland metalring 4164249. It travelled 2910 km se from its colony to Yancheng.
The coordinates of the colony are: 47°51' N, 92°01' E.There are no other sightings of this individual so far.
and reply from who banded it
It is - so far - the gull with the longest documented flight.
This gull was ringed at Khar Us Nuur National Park in Khovd Aimag = Khovd Province on 26. June 2006 as an adult male (older than 5 years) and was given the Helgoland metalring 4164249. It travelled 2910 km se from its colony to Yancheng.
The coordinates of the colony are: 47°51' N, 92°01' E.There are no other sightings of this individual so far.
Terry Townshend
Regular vagrant
Great news, Mcaribou! It's very cool to find out about the history and movement of these birds. I saw three wing-tagged birds in Dalian last winter. Many more must winter on the Chinese coast so anyone in a coastal Province should keep their eyes open!
Jeff Hopkins
Just another...observer
Truly a Mongolian Gull. Neat sighting.
chongming dongtan
happy new years and 新年快乐，万事如意 in advance! esp to those of you who are dragons.
I went birding at Chongming Dongtan (...two months ago, gulp) and saw the following (my apologies for the sloppy non-taxonomic ordering):
1. Little grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 小PT
2. Great cormorant Phalocrocorax carbo 普通鸬鹚
3. Little egret Egretta garzetta 小白鹭
4. Intermediate egret Egretta intermedia 中白鹭 (I HAVE YOU NOWWWW)
5. Great egret Egretta alba 大白鹭
6. Grey heron Ardea cinerea 苍鹭
7. Spotbill duck Anas poecilorhyncha 班嘴鸭
8. Mallard Anas platyrhyncos 绿头鸭
9. Northern pintail Anas acuta 针尾鸭
10. Bean goose Anser fabalis 豆雁
11. Common kestrel Falco tinnunculus 红隼
12. Eastern marsh harrier (provisional) Circus spilonotus 白腹鹞
13. Common pheasant/Ring-necked Phasianus colchicus 锦鸡
14. Sandhill crane Grus canadensis 沙丘鹤 (Only one, poor lost fellow.)
15. Hooded crane Grus monacha 白头鹤 (70 that day)
16. Common crane Grus grus 灰鹤 (30 that day)
17. Common moorhen Gallinula chloropus 黑水鸡
18. Eurasian coot Fulica atra 白骨顶
19. Common greenshank Tringa nebularia 青脚鹬
20. Vega gull Larus (argentatus) vegae
21. White wagtail Motacilla alba leucopsis 白鹡鸰
22. Chinese bulbul/light-vented Pycnonotus sinensis 白头鹎
23. Long-tailed shrike Lanius schach 棕背伯劳
24. Daurian redstart Phoenicurus auroreus 北红尾鸲
25. Reed parrotbill Paradoxornis heudei 震旦鸦雀
26. Eurasian tree sparrow Passer montanus 树麻雀
27. Reed bunting?! I think?!
28. Crested mynah Acridotheres cristatellus 八哥
29. Magpie Pica pica 喜鹊
I saw the cranes on a survey with two of the management staff at Dongtan. My novice self got horrifically lost the first time I went out, so the second time, they took pity on me. The cranes were south of the "Big Rock", sedately foraging in the fields where you can see the Fudan/Dongtan banding hut in the distance.
Please let me know if it's obnoxious/rude to post full species lists in this forum. I dunno if folks generally prefer only hearing about "good" birds (in which case about 75% of my outings are irrelevant...)
---
edit:
attached a few nice photos of a very obliging reed parrotbill and a subset of the crane flock. there are also photos of the unknown raptor that I assume is an Eastern Marsh Harrier...has a white rump patch. It was flying low over the Phragmites patches near the Big Rock such that a large mixed flock of spotbill ducks and mallards started wheeling.
happy new years and 新年快乐，万事如意 in advance! esp to those of you who are dragons.
I went birding at Chongming Dongtan (...two months ago, gulp) and saw the following (my apologies for the sloppy non-taxonomic ordering):
1. Little grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 小PT
2. Great cormorant Phalocrocorax carbo 普通鸬鹚
3. Little egret Egretta garzetta 小白鹭
4. Intermediate egret Egretta intermedia 中白鹭 (I HAVE YOU NOWWWW)
5. Great egret Egretta alba 大白鹭
6. Grey heron Ardea cinerea 苍鹭
7. Spotbill duck Anas poecilorhyncha 班嘴鸭
8. Mallard Anas platyrhyncos 绿头鸭
9. Northern pintail Anas acuta 针尾鸭
10. Bean goose Anser fabalis 豆雁
11. Common kestrel Falco tinnunculus 红隼
12. Eastern marsh harrier (provisional) Circus spilonotus 白腹鹞
13. Common pheasant/Ring-necked Phasianus colchicus 锦鸡
14. Sandhill crane Grus canadensis 沙丘鹤 (Only one, poor lost fellow.)
15. Hooded crane Grus monacha 白头鹤 (70 that day)
16. Common crane Grus grus 灰鹤 (30 that day)
17. Common moorhen Gallinula chloropus 黑水鸡
18. Eurasian coot Fulica atra 白骨顶
19. Common greenshank Tringa nebularia 青脚鹬
20. Vega gull Larus (argentatus) vegae
21. White wagtail Motacilla alba leucopsis 白鹡鸰
22. Chinese bulbul/light-vented Pycnonotus sinensis 白头鹎
23. Long-tailed shrike Lanius schach 棕背伯劳
24. Daurian redstart Phoenicurus auroreus 北红尾鸲
25. Reed parrotbill Paradoxornis heudei 震旦鸦雀
26. Eurasian tree sparrow Passer montanus 树麻雀
27. Reed bunting?! I think?!
28. Crested mynah Acridotheres cristatellus 八哥
29. Magpie Pica pica 喜鹊
I saw the cranes on a survey with two of the management staff at Dongtan. My novice self got horrifically lost the first time I went out, so the second time, they took pity on me. The cranes were south of the "Big Rock", sedately foraging in the fields where you can see the Fudan/Dongtan banding hut in the distance.
Please let me know if it's obnoxious/rude to post full species lists in this forum. I dunno if folks generally prefer only hearing about "good" birds (in which case about 75% of my outings are irrelevant...)
---
edit:
attached a few nice photos of a very obliging reed parrotbill and a subset of the crane flock. there are also photos of the unknown raptor that I assume is an Eastern Marsh Harrier...has a white rump patch. It was flying low over the Phragmites patches near the Big Rock such that a large mixed flock of spotbill ducks and mallards started wheeling.
Attachments
Last edited:
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Post as much as you want - it would be an amazing effort to do that constantly in three languages. The year I studied in China I wrote all the pinyin pronunciations for all the birds in China into Cheng and the characters into a Hong Kong Bird Report - and 20 years later I occasionally surprise myself when I pull a bird name in Chinese out of nowhere!
Sandhill Crane is something of a mega bird in China. Do you know how long its been there?
Looking forward to hearing about your Yunnan trip.
Cheers
Mike
Sandhill Crane is something of a mega bird in China. Do you know how long its been there?
Looking forward to hearing about your Yunnan trip.
Cheers
Mike
